Ninja's Dance
by Gia's Soul
Summary: Judith Carter had always wanted more adventure in her life, that's why she moved to America. To seek more romance, more excitement, things she couldn't find at home...but now that she had it all, she honestly didn't know what to do with it...
1. Chapter 1

**A Ninja's Dance**

**Chapter One**

**Gia's Ramblings:** I used to watch the ninja turtles when I was really little, but I had completely forgotten about them until the movie came out; Since then I have re-cultivated my enthusiastic love for TMNT.

While I have watched every episode that has been released thus far for the new TMNT, I decided to start this story just after the movie ends. Its far less complicated...

But I have slipped the movie in with the fourth season, so the whole first second and third seasons are relevant and might be mentioned at some point. Basically, when Leo developed an attitude problem after the final defeat of the Shredder, Splinter sends him to Central America (movie) instead of to the 'Ancient One' (TV series).

* * *

If it was possible to kill someone via phone, there would be a fair few phone company operators currently withering in the throes of death. No doubt the news reports of their mysterious demise would come as sweet revenge to the young woman currently doing battle down her land line.

"What? No! I don't want to upgrade my plan…this isn't a billing question either; I just want to know why I don't have reception anywhere! Is it a network coverage issue?" There was a pause as the underpaid lackey on the other end of the line attempted to diffuse the situation as best he could.

It didn't work.

"Of course it has a sim card! I'm working on one of your plans! Is that the problem? Has it not been activated properly? What? No…NO! Don't put me on…hold" The last word came out more like a frustrated sigh than anything else. How many sections did this company even have? She was sure she had spoken to every single one of them...probably several times. She knew what they were going to say when they eventually came back on the line as well, she'd been through it that many times.

"_Just to clarify your information with you. Your name is Miss Judith Carter yes?_" The young woman would then agree that yes, her name was Judith Carter, as it had been for the past 22 years; and probably ask if maybe the past 15ish people she had spoken to had forgotten to pass that information on.

"_Ok, and your date of birth?_" It was at about this time in the conversation that Judith would begin to formulate plots filled with fire and the burned remains of the wonderful company she was speaking with. But she kept those to herself as she answered the question with a calm and friendly voice.

"_You're full address and phone number please?_" She give the information slowly, spelling out street names and repeating her phone number twice. If she'd been having troubles remembering her new mobile number before, this experience had well and truly cemented it in her mind.

"Oh forget it" Judith finally muttered to the offensive elevator music blaring in her ear, clicking the hand held off and slamming it to the table.

There was a wash of calm as Judith settled into the silence of the room. No more elevator music, no more incompetent people, and no more repetitive questions. Yet...there was something in the back of her mind trying to pry its way into her breathing space.

As if on cue, the black mobile on the table beeped impatiently remind her it didn't have service and couldn't verify her information. Ah yes. The phone, the expensive Iphone with all the extra's and none of the necessaries. Like reception...or a manual for those with the technical competence of a snail on speed.

Of course, Judith didn't think she really needed a manual...she'd figured out how everything else on the phone worked, and she was pretty sure it wasn't a problem on her end. Usually she didn't have any real problems with technology in general. Yet…this particular phone seemed to revolve on a whole other plain. If she hadn't charged the battery and turned the thing on herself she would have declared it an alien species and have been done with it.

Taking a very deep breath, Judith raised herself from her chair and laboriously stretched out the kinks in her back and neck. She wasn't exactly sure how long she had been sitting at the desk with the home phone attached to her ear, but she knew it was probably enough for her to hate her phone bill and possibly her chiropractor bill too. Thinking about money made Judith cringe. As if the move here hadn't been enough, now she had to deal with the exchange rate.

Judith had never thought she would end up living in the US. Visiting on holidays, sure, but living? She'd entered the American green card lottery on a whim, thinking there was little to no chance that she would actually win it... she couldn't even win $2 on a scratchy, let alone a ticket into another country. Thus, some time later when the news had arrived on her doorstep offering her a chance at American citizenship she'd been completely floored as to what to do. Should she stay home and continue umming and ahhing over what she wanted to do with the rest of her life? Or should she take a leap of faith and do something so far out of her comfort zone it was making her sick just thinking about it? The decision had ultimately been made based on two reasons.

The first was that New York was a place Judith had grown up reading about and seeing in movies. She had been there on holidays once before when she was much younger so she felt she might be able to adapt if she was somewhat familiar with her surroundings. Though in reality she doubted there would be any similarities to what little she could recall...But hell, If she was going somewhere to be completely unsure of herself, it would be there.

The second was a little bit more trivial; she wanted to experience the life New York had to offer. The city had a myriad of cultural oddities she wanted to experience and enjoy.

When she had finally made the decision it had been a bit of a whirlwind to finalize all the paperwork. Then there had been a 6 month waiting period before the whirlwind started again as she bought the plane ticket, found a place to live, pack, get everything sorted so she could get herself a job just a quickly as possible and say goodbye to everyone...at the time it had been the start of a new adventure. She had been nervous as hell, but the excitement seemed to out way it at times.

Now...it seemed she had been a little too hasty in her decision. She had known that the city would be big, she just hadn't realized how big, and how tall. It seemed that the New Yorkians had realized that since they only had a small island to inhabit, they should go up instead of out, and thus, buildings seemed to disappear into the clouds if the day was lousy. She felt small and lost when she went out. Make no mistake, she was no country bumpkin, she'd had her fair share of big cities in her short lifetime...but New York was just something else. She couldn't remember the buildings being this large in her holiday memories. Strange, since she was sure she must have been quite a bit smaller back then.

Then there was the fact that she didn't know anyone, she had no relatives to visit. No friends to hang out with on weekends. She missed her family desperately. After two weeks in the city of dreams she was longing for some sort of work, just to take her mind off how alone she felt. That was something she would have to do now she was settled, start some serious job hunting.

Oh, and her apartment manager seemed to dislike her on principle (what principle she had yet to discover) and she didn't have nearly enough warm clothes to deal with a New York winter. Winter in Australia tended to be a little milder...and less white.

Judith had decided she didn't like snow very much. It was wet. And cold. And...snowy...

Before New York the only real experience she had had with snow was the ski slopes in the snowy mountains outside Canberra. The snow there was mainly man made, and it was packed and icy and rather painful to fall on. Then there was the time it snowed in Canberra, first time in something like 14 years, and she had collected a snowball that sat in the freezer for 4 years until her family had moved. Judith remembered almost crying when her father took the snowball off its plate and threw it into the garden.

Judith sighed and rubbed her temples slowly. Her head was foggy, and the dull throbbing behind her eyes told her she was about to come into a rather painful headache. No doubt that came from sitting in a stuffy room on the phone for hours on end. Maybe fresh air would help, though Judith wasn't sure how fresh the air actually was in New York. But a walk was a better idea than sitting by herself all-night and waiting for sleep to knock on her door.

This being decided, Judith stepped away from the desk and grabbed her coat, pulling it on and starting the laborious search for her small collection of winter gear. Boots, overly wooly socks, a pair of cashmere lined leather gloves her mother got her for her going away present, a beanie that could have possibly belonged to her ex boyfriend (but she wasn't sure, and she liked it, so she hadn't mentioned it when he'd stormed out) her fitted black jacket and finally, the biggest, warmest scarf she could find.

Overall, the mismatched compilation of colours, styles and fabric made Judith feel frumpy and fashion impaired, but it was all she had so she figured it would do. It wasn't like she was aiming to impress anyone anyway. She grabbed her book from her bedside table and toddled back to the main room of the apartment.

Judith made it all the way to her front door before she remembered the phone on her desk. It didn't have reception…but then maybe one more look would help…and she never left home without a phone on her...it was her mothers number one rule...

She sighed, and went back to her desk, snatching the mobile from the table top and shoving it deep in her pocket with her keys. Fresh air was going to have to work bloody wonders...That blasted headache had hit.

* * *

Michelangelo was bored…

Dangerously so.

After several weeks of confinement to the lair, Mikey had officially exhausted all his entertainment options.

Something his currently absent brothers didn't seem to have a problem with. Leo, taking the danger of Karai's mindless revenge quip seriously, had been training full throttle, and happily soaking up his sensei's praise for all his 'hard work'. Pfft, Mikey didn't need praise to sustain himself.

Raph had simply disappeared off topside with Casey, what they were doing was beyond Mikey, and he wasn't sure he actually wanted to know. His current motto was, if you don't know about it, you can't get in trouble for it. It had been working out pretty well for him so far.

Donny, well, Donny was curiously quiet. After Leo had come back from his training, and the whole Winters saga was over, Donny began to lock himself away in his lab more and more. Mikey figured that Donny's absence just _felt_ weird because while Leo had been away, Don had been marked the 'temporary leader' (much to Raphs displeasure). That basically meant that Don was almost always around in case someone needed him. Now Leo had unceremoniously dropped back into their lives, and re-claimed his position as leader, Don had been pushed out of the limelight. Mikey frowned to himself and began playing with his bandanna tails as the TV blared on about the cities deteriorating condition.

To be honest, Mikey still didn't really know how to feel about Leo's re-entry into the lair. I mean sure, he was happy his brother was home; but life for the remaining turtles had changed, and they couldn't just all be expected to go back to how it was right?

He hadn't said anything about how he felt (he left that up to Raph), but he figured Leo picked up on it a bit, because he was trying a little too hard to spend time with his youngest bro.

Mikey sighed and leaned his head back against the couch, he was so _bored_. If something interesting didn't happen soon he was going to either wilt away or do something stupid. Neither of these options were going to impress his brothers much.

"Mikey? You awake?" Mikey jumped and swiveled to face the voice, which apparently belonged to Leonardo. Leo was sweating slightly, and had obviously been training. This was bad news for Mikey.

"Whats up bro?" Mikey asked cautiously, yawning and stretching in what he hoped would look like a very _'I don't want to train thanks' _kind of way. Leo smiled slightly and tapped his fingers on the arm of the couch.

"Not much, just wondering if you wanted to spar with me?" That was possibly the last thing Mikey wanted to do. Sparring was _worse_ than training, sparring meant hurties and painies for Mikey, especially when sparring involved Leo. Forcing a smile, Mikey's brain kicked itself into gear and he shook his head.

"Sorry Leo dude, just caught me on my way out, going for a skate" Now, Mikey knew Leo was going to argue, since he was sitting on the couch with no skateboard in sight. And he also knew he wouldn't be able to leave if he tried to argue back. So the best course of action here was to get the hell out and pretend he didn't hear Leo calling after him.

Which is what he did. Mikey grinned real wide at his brother, vaulted the couch, and was out the door with his skateboard before Leo could even formulate words into a reasonable argument.

"Damn it" Leo muttered, slamming an open palm onto the couch arm as the brick wall slid shut after his brother. He sighed, heavily, and flopped down on the now empty seat mumbling to himself. "I need a drink"

* * *

Judith hummed as she made her way down her apartment stairs and out into the street. Despite her current money situation, she hadn't done too badly with her apartment. The rent was decent, and the area was pretty good. Pretty good meaning she could go out near sun set and walk around without constant fear of getting mugged. Then again, her fear of getting mugged was probably just movie induced paranoia. It was quiet, there were barley any people around and most of the traffic had stopped in the area. Judith wasn't sure if this was normal for New York, but it was nice.

There was a small park near-by. Nothing too big, just a small cluster of trees and a couple park benches staring at a water fountain. Again, it was just nice. She plopped down on a park bench and inhaled deeply, feeling the crisp cold air grate at her throat. It didn't really bother her too much, her headache was clearing up, retreating back to a dull ache behind her eyes. There was only one other person in the park, an older man with nothing remarkable about him except his bright green sweater and blue duffle bag. He didn't seem to notice her, so she flipped her book open to her marker and scanned the page, finding her last spot and continuing on.

After a while of reading the same sentence several times, Judith gave up on the book and opted to merely sit and play with her phone. It wasn't that great of a book, just something she'd picked up at the airport and hadn't gotten around to reading. Since she hadn't unpacked her other books yet, this was really her only reading material.

It was a good phone really. She'd never had an Iphone before, it had been a splurge on her part and there were quite a few fun little things to do with it. Eventually, Judith ran out of technological capabilities and slumped into the bench. She didn't feel like going home, but she didn't really want to stay out here either. She had what her father would call a 'chameleon hump' or something like that. Basically it just meant that she didn't know what to do with herself.

So she did what any self-respecting young lady would do in a public park with no one around. She filmed a message to her friends with her phone.

"Hey all" She smiled into the little camera lens and gave a one handed wave "I'm bored, so I thought I might film my little park so you can see kinda where I live. At least you'll see it when I get reception." She stuck her tongue out a little at this and swiveled the phone to face the park. "Well, this is it, nothing too speci…" The sound of tires rolling through the quiet street stopped Judith mid sentence and she turned to watch as a black van slowed and mounted the pavement nearby.

Her bench was pretty much hidden from street view by the small line of bushes and tree's, so Judith poked her head (and phone) out to watch what was going on.

Three men jumped out of the van, all dressed in black with all sporting an identical purple dragon shaped tattoo on their arms. The biggest one of the group (who was mountain type big) had another tattoo on his other shoulder as well, it looked almost like a cross between a chicken and a dinosaur foot. Judith felt a chill crawl up her spine as she watched them. Whoever they were, they didn't look friendly, and she didn't want to ask them if they were, or get noticed by them for that matter.

The other man in the park however, the one Judith had noted before, didn't seemed concerned about being seen because he hurried over to them and started yammering in fast, panicked tones. Judith held her breath, wanting to walk away but not wanting to move in case they saw her.

She tried to reason with herself. They probably weren't bad guys, probably not bad at all. Maybe they were just catching up with a friend or something. Maybe the dragon tat was just a high school thing and they had kept in contact. Or maybe they were a gang of tough killing slave traders…you know…either way…

Judith continued to watch as the biggest one of the group pulled out a black duffle bag from the van and dumped it unceremoniously onto the ground. He stooped and unzipped it before kicking it towards the man in green, who glanced inside and nodded before zipping it back up. He pulled it up over his shoulder and handed the big guy his blue bag.

The big one (who was quite obviously the leader) unzipped the blue duffle and frowned, reaching in and drawing out a single small square package. He shook his head and glared down at the now shaking man in green. Some hushed but obviously angry conversation ensued, before the leader of the dragon tattoos raised a fist and landed a solid punch to the cowering mans jaw, knocking him to the ground.

Judith gasped and clamped her hand over her mouth, hoping she hadn't been heard. Then it was suddenly all over very quickly. The leader pulled out a gun from his belt, and put two silenced rounds through the guys head. Just like that…

Judith had never seen anyone die before, but she suddenly knew why people were scarred by it. The man was lying still on the pavement, his jaw obviously broken, and when the bullets had hit, his blood had sprayed up and splattered all over the white cement. She felt tears begin to well in her eyes and bit down on her hand so she couldn't cry. She just needed to stay quiet, just needed them to leave so she could…do something. Maybe go to the police. She wasn't sure. She was just very, very scared. Why hadn't anyone else seen this? Why was it just her in the park? This was New York! people were always around!

The leader leant over and pulled the black bag away from the dead body, throwing it in the back of the van with the blue duffle and whispering quiet instructions to the other two men with him. Judith took a quiet breath and shifted slightly in her seat, slipping her phone into her pocket and preparing to bolt as soon as they had left.

This knocked her book to the ground with a loud, resounding thump.

All action at the van stopped, and three very angry sets of eyes began scanning the park in long, hard sweeps. Judith stayed perfectly still, praying they wouldn't care. Desperately hoping against all hopes they wouldn't come looking for the cause of the sound.

Her prayers weren't answered. The leader of the three growled more instructions to the two others and began walking through the park, eyes darting around at every hint of movement.

Judith watched, paralyzed with fear as he edged closer and closer to her position. Then, just before his big head peeked around the bush line hiding her from the street, Judith ran.

Bolted, her adrenaline packed body flying from the bench and launching her into the open park and towards the street. She heard the man behind her cry out and yell for his companions before a gun went off behind her. The bullets connected with her side, cutting through the flesh and sending flashes of dangerously hot pain through her body. But she didn't stop. She was thankful it was only one bullet and he hadn't emptied his clip.

She kept running, her body taking total control as the heavy thumping of feet clattered after her, she barley felt the wound on her side, through she knew it was probably causing more pain that she had ever experienced.

In the back of her terrified mind she heard the man behind her make a jutted phone call, but she didn't care. When she had started running, the van and the men had blocked her usual route home, and Judith found herself quickly getting lost in the mass of back streets fanning out from the park. She didn't stop running. It would have been stupid to go home anyway, they may not have got her then, but they would have know where she lived.

Oh _god_. Were they going to kill her like they had that man? She just needed to find one person. One person out of the millions living in New York. Just one person.

But there was no-one around. Every street she turned down was as deserted as the last, and they were slowly becoming dingier, darker and more degraded. Finally, when her legs were burning and her head was light and dizzy, Judith spotted a young woman leaning on the corner of one of the streets. Joy erupted in her gut and Judith cried out, drawing the woman's attention instantly. She was too breathless to cry help, and she could faintly feel blood trickling down her side, soaking the hip of her pants.

The woman stood strait for a moment, then, motioned to someone further around the corner. Oh thank god, there were more with her, if there were more, maybe the men behind her might not try anything and she could get away.

It wasn't until Judith got within a couple of feet of the woman that she noticed the purple dragon tattoo creeping up her neck from her shirt. Then it was too late.

Judith tried to dodge away from her, but the woman caught her wrist and swung her around, slamming her into the alleyway wall. Judith's vision blackened for a second as her head collided with the brick wall and she nearly gagged at the shattering pain that spiraled through her temple. Her arm swung out in some form of defense, and surprisingly connected rather hard with the woman's jaw. The woman backed up for a second, seemingly shocked that Judith had retaliated at all, and in some form of pain, then lunged forward again.

That single second gave Judith's still fear intoxicated mind enough time to get its bearings and make her legs work again, she pushed off from the wall and hurtled down the next alleyway, blood from her forehead dripping into her eyes and blurring her vision.

Judith didn't know much at this point, but she knew that there was now more than three people out after her, and she couldn't keep running. Her legs were nearly giving way on ever second step, her vision was fading, and the pain from her side was starting to make itself known. She needed out. Now. Or she was going to die.

She stumbled to a stop around another corner and gasped out a sob. Pain and exhaustion hitting her.

_Help. Help me. Help please, please, please, please_

The sun was setting, and the last rays were dragging sulkily out of the alleyway where she was hiding. They glimmered, frosting over a snow-covered piece of metal in the centre of the alleyway. There, was a sewer entrance. A manhole. An escape.

Judith lunged forward and yanked hard on the metal covering, forcing it free with adrenaline packed strength. She barreled down without thinking and felt her foot slip on the wet metal of the ladder too late to stop herself toppling backwards. She managed to restrict her surprise to a muffled yip as she slid down a few rungs. She finally caught a grip on ladder and held on, feeling her wrist groan and pull and the sudden jolted weight being forced on it. Somehow, Judith managed reach up and pulled the metal cover back into place.

She was immediately submerged in darkness, and her hands tightened around the ladder. She could hear the muffled yells of the people as they approached the alleyway, and jammed her eyes shut.

_Please god_… She bit her lip hard in an attempt to stifle a sob and lent forward so her forehead was resting on the rung above her hands. _Please_…

"Check the buildings! We weren't that far behind!" A chorus of agreement followed the deep cry from above her. Judith waited, unable to move a muscle as a foot landed heavily on the metal casing of the manhole. For a moment there was no movement above her and she whimpered, shivering. If they found her…if they opened the manhole…she would die. The foot moved, and the manhole clicked back into place with a gentle 'thud'.

"She's not here!" Her heart in her throat, Judith forced herself to open her eyes and look up. After a moment her eyes began to adjust to the darkness, helped by the thin ring of light coming through the manhole. The foot replaced itself on the manhole and Judith's eyes snapped down to the wall in front of her…

_Breathe in…Breathe out…_

She stayed stiff, her hands gripping the metal ladder so hard her knuckles were slowly loosing colour. She focused her eyes solely on the dirty bricks lining the wall only inches from her nose and tried to count the cracks in them. Above her, the thunder of what seemed like a million pairs of feet rocketed over, some clanging on the thin sheet of metal concealing her hiding place.

It was the feeling of heated dread that held her firmly in her position long after the feet had stopped passing overhead, and it took a fare amount of mental convincing to make her uncurl her fingers from the ladder and inch her way down.

She couldn't go up again, not tonight. It was too dangerous. She was too scared.

Judith didn't know anything about the sewers of New York, and she certainly didn't realise that some of the manholes only had half ladders that left about a metre before the cement path below. She found this out when she lent her weight on the next rung of the ladder only to find it wasn't there. Her wrist gave out as her full weight was put on it and Judith felt herself fall to the ground, landing heavily and feeling the back of her head hit the cement painfully hard.

Then, nothing. The ring of light above her faded, and her body went limp, and everything disappeared.

* * *

Mikey was making his skating outing as long as possible. He wanted Leo to have forgotten about training by the time he got back, but he wanted to be back in time for dinner.

So the plan was to explore one of the relatively unused sewer tunnels and see if there was either anything worth salvaging, or, possibly a cool skate area. So far he hadn't turned up anything interesting. Sewer water, sewer water, and more sewer water. Same old bland tunnel walls and pipes. Nothing exciting.

It was getting close to sunset, Mikey could tell by the changing light filtering through the manholes and cracks in the tunnels, so he figured he better start heading back to base for a little one on one pizza time. Since he couldn't find any excitement, he decided he might as well make some.

Mikey sped up, streamlining himself as much as a teenage mutant turtle could and racing through the sewers.

"And Mikey rounds the corner, still way ahead of his competition…I don't know Pete, you think he would have relaxed a little with so much leeway to play with…" Mikey sped down the straight, calling out his commentary to the echoing tunnels.

"I don't know Bob, I think he might be heading for the record…No way Pete! No-ones beaten that record in 30 years! I think he might have it too Bob, all he has to do it make this final turn and he's set to be the new best skateboarder in the whole of the universe!"

Mikey grinned and leant perfectly into the corner, skidding around it with precision and poise, then throwing his arms in the air in a sign of victory.

"And he's done it! Ladies and Gentlemen! Michelangelo has officially made the…universe…record…" Mikey frowned and slowed, stopping at the corner of the tunnel and staring at the crumpled heap a couple of metres down from him. He flipped his board up and edged a little closer, curiosity overpowering him. Whatever the lump was, it hadn't been there when he had passed by earlier today.

Mikey narrowed his eyes and observed the thing from head to toe. It was wrapped in lots of dark material, and had booted legs, with slim arms and…

_Holy shell!_

It was a _girl_! And she was in pretty bad shape by the looks of it. He should help her right? But what if she woke up? What if she saw him? Mikey's caring side quickly won over and he closed the gap between him and the girl, gently shifting her onto her back. Well, she wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, the huge cut and bruise on her forehead made that obvious. But she was breathing, and she was still warm. So she was alive.

Now, Mikey wasn't a Donny. He didn't have any medical knowledge whatsoever, but he knew enough to know that human wrists weren't meant to be swollen and purple, and no living thing should be leaking blood all over the ground. Which happened to be what the girl was currently doing.

Mikey began to panic. This girl needed a hospital, and really, really fast.

But what was he going to do? He couldn't just drop her off himself. What was he going to say…_'oh hi Mr. Doctor man, I'm a mutant turtle and I just happened to find this half dead girl in the sewers where I live…could you take care of her?'_ Like that would go down well. But he needed to do something or the woman could die. Mikey needed advice…

And when Mikey needed advice, he went to Donny. Because Donny was smart and Donny knew what to do in this sort of situation.

Mikey pulled out his shell cell and punched Donatello's button, listening to the rings impatiently. Finally the line clicked into service as Donny answered.

"Mikey, I swear, if this is another prank call I'm going to kill you. And don't deny it! There are only four people who can call this number and you're the only one who would know that and still try to prank me!" Donatello's angry voice blasted down the line and Mikey scrambled to retaliate.

"No! No, Donny this is serious! I really need your help" There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment before Donny replied.

"What did you do?" Mikey, despite his rather panicked state 'humph'ed into the speaker.

"I didn't do anything. I found this girl…Don she's really hurt…bleeding and everything" Again, there was silence on the other end. "What do I do Don, she needs help" There was more silence, before Dons calm voice came back on the line.

"I've got you on the tracker, don't move, I'm coming now." Mikey hung up when the line went dead and sighed. A little calmer now.

"Donny's coming to help you" Mikey whispered to the still figure of the woman, creeping closer and gently pushing some blood matted hair from her face. "He'll know what to do…"

Despite the cut on her head, Mikey could tell she was pretty. High cheekbones and nice red lips like the girls in Master Splinters Soap Opera's. Mikey frowned and touched a finger gently to her jaw.

"What happened to you?" he muttered to the silent tunnels around him.

* * *

**EndNote**: For anyone out there who doesn't know where Canberra is, its Australia's capital city and is located between Sydney and Melbourne. I only write this because believe it or not, there a quite a few Australians who don't even know where it is. :P And I'm only allowed to tease these people because I'm Australian myself.

The romance featured in the story is something new I'm trying out. Its called 'realistic', so it won't start for a while and will gradually ease in. Hopefully, if you continue to read you'll like the way it blends. If not, please give me a few tips, and if there's anything you might think needs improving in my work please let me know. The only way I can make it more enjoyable is if people let me know what they actually think (but please be decent and don't just flame it).

Also, I honestly don't know how American Immigration works. I've done a little research but I would really appreciate any tips and hints about how it actually goes down. Most of the information I have is how to apply, not how the Visa works once your in the country.

-Gia


	2. Chapter 2

**Ninja's Dance**

**Chapter 2**

**Gia' Ramblings:** I hope this chapter comes across ok. I, unfortunately, don't have a lot of experience with medical operations or lingo, so I was running off what I have learned from my few hospital visits and the good old internets.

* * *

It took Donny all of 15 minutes to get out of the lair and make his way to Mikey's location in the sewer slider. Those 15 minutes were spent alternating between frustration and worry. He was worried about Mikey, because as far as he knew, this 'girl' he had found was a foot, or a purple dragon, just waiting to have the right opportunity pop up.

Yet at the same time he was worried about the girl too, because if she wasn't a foot or a purple dragon (and if she was as banged up as Mikey seemed to think), then she needed medical attention. Fast. Donny only hoped he could help with what limited medical knowledge he had.

The other problem was that this girl could make life incredibly complicated. While April and Casey were ingrained in their lives, exposing themselves to more people topside could really put his family in danger.

"Don!" Donny looked over his radar as he swerved the final corner. There, in the headlights, was Mikey, crouched over a small bundle of black fabric. Donny slowed the slider to a stop and squinted at the bundle. Well, Mikey had gotten one thing right…it was defiantly human. "Donny! You're here!" Mikey stood, running up to the sewer slider and practically dragging his brother out. "She's real bad Don, she's going cold."

Don frowned, following a startlingly upset Mikey back to the small figure splayed on the ground. He did a quick once over of the girl and instantly found several things that needed to be handled immediately. She was bleeding heavily from her side, Donny could tell even through the scarf Mikey had tied around the wound. And she had a cut on her forehead, which was starting to bruise up rather badly. That meant she would probably have a concussion. Who knows how many more injuries were hidden beneath her clothes.

"Mikey, I need you to grab the stretcher from the back of the slider. Have you moved her since you found her?" Mikey jumped to his assigned task as he answered.

"Rolled her over onto her back a little, and lifted her up to tie her scarf around her waist…that's it." Donny nodded as he removed the girls shoes, lifting her leg and bending it at the knee to check for any noticeable breaks, then proceeding to do the same to all her other limbs. All the bones seemed fine, but her ankle was swelling. Very, very carefully, Donny flipped the woman onto her stomach and, pulling out his pocket-knife, cut her jacket and shirt away from her skin. "What are you doing?" Donny nearly jumped out of his shell as Mikey reappeared next to him with stretcher.

"Checking for any obvious spinal injuries" Donny said briskly, tracing his fingers over the woman's back and up her neck to the base of her skull. "If she's sustained any spinal injuries we won't be able to move her from here. It would be too risky…" A second check of her spine revealed nothing obviously wrong and Donny sighed.

"Problem is, I don't have an x-ray to check properly, so there might be something I can't find just by feeling the spine. But she'll bleed out if we don't do something soon so we're going to have to risk it." So saying, Donny carefully lent the woman onto her side and looked to his rather pale brother "I need you to slide the stretcher under her, and then help me lean her onto it. We need to try and keep her straight."

Mikey nodded and did as he was told, helping Donny to shift the girl onto the stretcher and then move her to the slider, strapping her down.

"I'm going to need you to drive" Donny said slowly, eyeing Mikey. "Carefully, get us all home in one piece. I'll do what I can while we're moving, but I need to get her back to the lair." He paused as Mikey nodded and jumped into the drivers seat of the slider, starting it up. "Call Leo and Raphael as well." Donny finally called over the noise of the engine.

"Tell Leo to clear the lounge room, move the kitchen table into it and cover it with as many clean sheets as he can find, put the plastic sheet from the medical storage cupboard over it, get the first aid kit out and boil some water. Tell him its an emergency and hang up before he can ask any questions. Then call Raph and tell him to get his shell back to the lair **asap…**and make sure you answer any questions he has." Mikey frowned as he carefully steered the slider around the tight sewer tunnel corners, glancing back at his brother.

"Why am I answering Raph's questions?" He called back, flicking the headlights on full and speeding up. Donny smiled to himself as he pulled out what little medical supplies he had with him and began cutting away the remainder of the woman's jacket and shirt.

"Because unlike Leo, Raph won't do anything **you** tell him to do unless you explain the situation in complete detail." Mikey huffed quietly into the noise of the slider but didn't argue. It was true.

* * *

Raph snorted in amusement and took another swig of his beer as Casey ended his impersonation of April in a bad mood. Today was turning out to be a pretty good day. He had cold beer, a higher body count than Casey, and the shell cycle was running flawlessly thanks to his new 'modification'.

Well, it was turning out to be a good day until his shell cell started beeping urgently and vibrating its way around the coffee table of Casey and Aprils apartment. Phone calls on the shell cell generally meant Leo nowadays, and Leo generally meant…well, nothing good.

Raph winced and stared at the little phone, willing it to stop. Of course, it didn't stop, and its insistence led Raph to jump to the only logical conclusion. Leo was about to get back on his case again, and he sure as hell wasn't going to give up until he got his 'leader' power dose for the day.

"What?" Raph barked down the line when he finally decided to answer (a decision helped on by an annoyed groan from a rather tipsy Casey)

"Raph! Finally! Its Mikey, you need to get back to the lair as soon as you can…like, now as soon as you can!" Raph frowned and carefully set his beer bottle on the coffee table.

"Why? What'd you do?" There was a dramatic huff from the other end of the line, barely audible over the dull roar or an engine. It sounded like the sewer slider. What was Mikey doing in the sewer slider? "Mikey…where's Don?" If Mikey was in the sewer slider, Donny would be either really pissed off, or nearby.

"Donny's in the back! With this girl I found! And why does everyone assume **I **did something wrong?" Raph tried valiantly to be brotherly and keep his dirty mind at bay, but failed. The beer seemed to have loosened his tongue a little.

"Mikey, your tellin' me you finally found yaself a girl, and Don's the one scorin'?" Another huff, and a faint worried yell from someone in the background. A yell that sounded kinda Donnyish. Why did Donny sound worried? Raph couldn't make out anything much, but Mikey had gone quiet on his end of the line, then there was a whistling sound as if the phone had been thrown.

"Hey, anyone there?" Raph called into the speaker, feeling suddenly a little concerned.

"Raph, no more crap, don't ask questions, just go to the nearest hospital you can find and get your hands on a couple of bags of IV drip. I don't care how you do it, just do it fast and don't get caught or seen. Then get yourself back to the lair. Mikey found a girl down in the sewers and she's lost a lot of blood. I don't know her blood type, but a couple IV's should pull her through." It was Donny on the line now, and he was talking in his 'doctor' voice. Donny only used that voice when one of his brothers was badly injured or very sick. Raph knew that voice, and he knew not to screw with Don when he started talking like that.

"Got it." He murmured into the phone, then, not waiting for a reply (since he knew he wouldn't get one) clicked it shut and stood. "Sorry Case, gotta go" Casey didn't ask, he took one look at Raphs expression, nodded, and threw the turtle the keys to the shell cycle.

"Careful man" He muttered as Raph jumped the window ledge and slipped down the fire escape to the alley behind the building.

"What sort of shit you got yourself in now Mike?" Raph muttered to himself, keying the nearest hospitals location into the shell cycles built-in GPS and revving the engine. "What the hell'd you get us into now?"

* * *

Leo stared at the scene before him, feeling like someone had just injected him with more nervous energy than any normal person should be able to handle. Mikey had called ten minutes ago, and had hung up before he had gotten a word in edge ways. Then it had taken him about 5 minutes to set up the usual 'surgery', something he felt he had set up far too many times in his life.

The floor had been covered with a plastic sheet, and the table had been converted into a makeshift surgery slab. The coffee table, also covered with plastic, had all manner of sterilized tools and first aid equipment neatly arranged on it. Waiting for the next patient to come along.

Usually, Leo knew who was going to be on that table, whether it be for a quick stitch up or something a little more…major. But he didn't know who was the next person to be draped across the slab was going to be.

It was a girl. That was all he knew. A girl who was very badly hurt, and very unconscious. Apart from that, Mikey hadn't disclosed anything, and hadn't let Leo ask anything. The niggling sensations in the back of Leo's mind told him that Mikey had really enjoyed hanging up on his older brothers questioning…probably enjoyed it too much.

Leo wished Master Splinter were here. Master Splinter would be able to make heads or tails of what was going on…either that or he would have the authority to **stop** whatever was going on. But then, Master Splinter had been looking forward to heading to the Battle Nexus verse for a little 'tea time' with the Daimyo, and Leo wasn't even sure if there was enough time for him to try and contact his Master.

"Coming through!" The cry was accompanied with the loud hum of the sewer slider engines, and the scraping of the brick wall sliding up. Mikey was in the drivers seat. Which was very odd, and very scary at the same time. But Leo's worry was cut short as Donny jumped from the back of the slider and started calling instructions.

And the rush started.

"Leo, get that water! Mikey, give me a hand!" Leo quickly retreated into the kitchen, and Mikey vaulted to the back of the slider, gently helping Donny lift their fragile cargo down and out onto the kitchen table in the middle of the room.

"What now?" Mikey asked quietly, watching as Donny removed the straps binding the girl to the stretcher.

"Same as in the sewer only in reverse, grab the stretcher out from under her. Then I need you to wash your hands as thoroughly as you can and put on a couple pairs of those plastic gloves" Mikey nodded and followed his instructions. Together, Donny and Mikey managed to get the girl onto the table and the stretcher was very quickly put somewhere it wouldn't get in the way.

Mikey disappeared into the kitchen just as Leo emerged, carrying a steaming bowl of water. Donny looked up at him as he approached and nodded approvingly.

"Leo, good. I need you to go through her clothes and see if you can find anything that can tell us who she is. Her clothes are on the back of the sewer slider. Keep an eye on her. I have to go wash up so I can start cleaning and stitching that wound. If she moves, tell me, if she even twitches, call me" Leo nodded and watched Donny dart into the kitchen. Then he turned to look at the 'patient'…

And felt his cheeks heating up terribly.

She was practically naked. Thought that shouldn't have concerned him, since you could barley see much of her skin through the blood soaked bandages wrapped around her side. But she was still practically naked. For some reason, Leo found that very…embarrassing.

He swallowed and averted his eyes, cursing himself for acting this way in such a crisis. Clothes, he needed to go through her clothes. Stumbling away from the patient, Leo located her clothing and began sorting through it as fast as he could without missing anything, eyes continuously darting to the patient to check on her.

His search came up with fuck all…to put it politely.

There was nothing in her jacket, nothing tucked into the pockets of her jeans, not even anything inside her beanie or shoes. Leo frowned and went through the clothes again. Nothing.

"There's nothing here!" He called, turning back to the girl and watching Donny and Mikey scurry back into the room.

"Fine. We're going to have to fluke it…Mikey, I need anesthetic and morphine, don't mix them up. Leo, go wash your hands" Donny had begun carefully cutting away at the bandages as he was talking, slowly revealing a nasty hole slicing through her side.

"What…is that?" Mikey muttered, stopping his task for a second to stare at the wound. Donny sent him a quick glare that got Mikey back on track before giving an answer.

"She was shot. I've already checked to see if there is any exit wound, and there is so we're lucky. But whatever gun was used put a pretty big hole in her. I have to figure out if there is anything vital damaged, and I have to do this without any equipment…thank god none of us have ever been shot." Leo sent a quiet word of thanks to the heavens as well, remembering every shattering gunshot that had ever hurled its way towards he and his brothers. They had all been very, very lucky.

The 'operation' took a little under an hour. Raph arrived half way through to find his brothers working like mad men possessed. He was instantly thrown into the fray, thought there was little he could do once he had handed over the IV drips to his purple clad brother. He settled for sitting at the head of the operating table, a finger pressed to the girl's slim throat, counting the beats of her pulse.

The bullet, Donny was glad to find, had not hit anything vital, though it had caused quite a bit of damage and it would leave a scar. The wound was cleaned, sterilized and stitched, then bandaged with gauze, medical tape and pressure bandages.

The rest of her injuries were relatively minor, her wrist was sprained, and the cut on her forehead needed several stitches to pull it together. The cut on the back of her head was a little more difficult to deal with, but it stopped bleeding a little while after Donny had cleaned and bandaged it.

The only other issue Donny managed to find was her ankle, her wrist was just a minor sprain. Her ankle however was bruised and swollen when he removed her boot, but there was something obviously wrong with it besides a sprain. It was only slight, but the angle of her foot was a little off, and the bruising seemed to pull and twist in the wrong places.

"Shit" Everyone around the operating table looked up when Donny swore loudly into the silence.

"What? What's wrong?" Mikey muttered, mid way through patching up one of the girls lesser cuts and scrapes. Surprisingly, Mikey had been one of the more helpful of the turtle brothers. Unlike Raphael and Leonardo, Mikey had made it his personal vendetta to keep the girl living.

"I think her ankle is broken." Donny muttered, racking his brain for something close by he might be able to use to see the fracture. Raph and Leo exchanged glances across the table before Leo spoke.

"Can't you check with the x-ray machine in your lab?" He asked with a frown. Raph nodded, unconsciously rubbing his left knuckles, remembering his last trip to the x-ray machine in Donny's lab.

"If we move her now we might risk re-opening something, or waking her up…" Wide eyes turned to Mikey, who had gone back to cleaning the smaller cuts up the girls' arms. He looked up when silence met his statement and glared at his astonished brothers. "What?" He asked incredulously. Donny just shook his head and smiled tightly at his brother.

"What Mikey said," He muttered, gently running his fingers over the bruised skin around the girls foot and frowning again. "We'll have to wait until she looks like she totally stabilised, then get her to the lab to set the bone." Everyone nodded in understanding. There was a moment of silence as Donny continued to examine the girls ankle, and Mikey finished cleaning up the last scrape on the girls hand.

"So…what do we do wit her now?" Raph finally asked, his fingers still tracing the girls pulse on her neck. Everything stopped abruptly. Mikey looked angrily at Raph and stuck out his bottom lip.

"Well, I'm sure we could always return her to the people who did this to her" He said angrily, taking an almost defensive position over the girls limp body. Raph glared at his brother and shook his head.

"Ya know what I mean Mike, we can't let her wake up to all this" He motioned around the lair "We don't even know who she is! For all we know she could be a Foot, or even a Purple Dragon" Leo nodded at his side in agreement, pulling off his blood covered gloves. Mikey rolled his eyes.

"Since when do you two agree on anything" Mikey asked frostily. Donny sighed and interrupted what he knew was about to become an argument.

"Or she could just be the victim of a mugging gone wrong." Donny said simply, eyeing his brothers. "Think about it, no valuables on her at all, no tattoos, and Mikey and I are sure no-one was following us or tracking her." He signed and rubbed his temples, stepping away from the table

"Plus, lets face it, she doesn't have enough muscle to be a Foot, and she sure as hell was going to die from the bullet in her side. Mikey's decision to go out skating was completely random, and if anyone was going to try and get to us they would put their bait somewhere more obvious…" He trailed off suddenly; his eyes wide and focused back on the girl.

"Donny? What's wrong?" Mikey asked, turning to look at the girl again.

All his brothers gasped in unison horror as the young girls wide eyes swiveled over them, before her mouth opened to what they presumed to be a coming scream.

* * *

For a brief millisecond of her newly found consciousness, Judith was sure she was dead. The strange floating sensation tingling up and around her body was positively out of this world, and she couldn't seem to focus on anything in particular. Then the soft voices in the back of her mind, the ones that were immediately obvious from the moment she had clicked back to understanding, started to get louder. She tried very hard to listen to the voices, finally managing to make one of them blare into focus.

"…she doesn't have the muscle to be in the Foot, and she sure as hell was going to die from the bullet in her side…" The voice was very nice, a soothing sound that made her sigh a little. She didn't open her eyes, it didn't seem that important of a thing to try and do. She felt hazy and almost a little tipsy.

"Mikey's decision to go out skating was completely random, and if anyone was going to try and get to us…" The voice was continuing. Who was Mikey? Why was someone going to try and get to the voice?

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Judith clicked into the fact that the voice was actually talking about her originally. Because she had been shot in the side hadn't she? Wait…

Suddenly, the past events before her death spiraled back into her head and opening her eyes seemed to become imperative. She snapped them open, blinded momentarily by the light before her eyes began to adjust. Everything was a little blurry at first, and she still couldn't seem to get the glassy haze out from her consciousness to make herself focus.

"Donny? What's wrong?" Another voice, different from the first one. Judith forced her eyes to source out the location of the voice and stared momentarily at the blurred green and orange shape. Slowly the shape began to define itself…

Into a big turtle wearing a ninja mask.

Judith couldn't help herself. Her mouth opened…

And she giggled.

"Why…is you…r ma…s….k orange?" she slurred out through her almost numbed lips, still trying to strangle her giggles. For some reason, this very realistic humanoid turtle seemed incredibly funny, and the terrible events that had forced her to open her eyes didn't seem important anymore.

"Ah…" The turtle seemed taken back, his brows furrowing before he leant in towards her. "Is she alright?" Judith giggled again and reached out, trying to touch his creased forehead, and confused as to why she couldn't seem to do it.

"Come….here" She slurred again, trying to sit up and gain better leverage towards her target. She gasped and fell back into the hard surface she was on, a burbled squeal making it out of her throat. That had hurt lots. "Ow!" She complained in a long whine, trying to open her eyes again. Blinking seemed suddenly hard.

"Stay still" There was another of the funny turtle things hovering over her now, she knew it wasn't the same one because this one had a purple ninja mask on. Some part of her was screaming that something was very wrong, that ninja masked turtles were not real, that she shouldn't feel so very much like she was floating, but she ignored it.

"What?" She gurgled out to him, giggling again, her pain all but forgotten. "What…why is yyooooouuuuurrrr mask purp…le" She reached up and poked his cheek, happy to find that her finger made contact with her intended target this time. But he seemed a little blurry, obviously she needed to get closer to have a better look.

She tried to sit up again, having somehow forgotten what happened when she tried to move, and found that she couldn't. The turtle above her had pinned her to the surface she was on, his hands were really big and warm, and they were holding her shoulders in place. Judith decided she didn't mind being pinned to the ground, but she did decide that this turtle needed to be informed that his hands were nice.

"Your hands are big…" She informed him to start with, blinking very slowly, trying to be serious. Suddenly the hands were gone, and the turtle was even more blurry. Judith groaned and flexed her fingers towards the blurry figure

"hhheeeeyyyy! Come back! Your hands were warm! I liked them! Cooommmee baaaccckkkk!" Her voice suddenly sounded funny and she began giggling again. "Tttuuuuurrrrtttlllleee!" She sang joyously, giggling hysterically "Purple tuuurtle! Come back purple tuuurrrtle!"

"What….the fuck" Her eyes swiveled to the next voice, trying and focus.

She gasped, attempting to point at the other two turtles standing further back…but her arm felt heavy and it flopped down almost as soon as she got it off the ground. What was wrong with her?

"More!" She cooed happily, unable to stop herself grinning at the other two "Four little turtles…" and she was suddenly dizzy, her vision fading in and out. "wooooo" she huffed, feeling like the air had been taken out of her. What the hell was wrong with her?

"What…what is your name?" The question came from the blue turtle, and Judith forced herself to focus.

"What's your name?" She asked in retaliation, suddenly feeling angry at this particular turtle.

"I am Leonardo," He said quietly, coming forward so he was easier to focus on. Judith smiled at him, deciding she wasn't angry anymore.

"Hi!" She chirped "I'm Judith Ann Carter…and I feel really funny! Like my head is floating!" Leonardo was nice, he touched one warm hand to her forehead and rested the other on her shoulder.

"Floating?" He asked quietly. Judith nodded, her head bobbing against his hand.

"Like last year when my friend took me to a party and they were all smoking pot and I inhaled some of it on accident before I left and I had to pull over because I felt all floaty and then I called my dad and he had to come and pick me up and he thought I had been smoking pot but I don't do drugs and then he forgave me and turned in all the people at the party and now I don't talk to that friend anymore…" the words came out in a huge rush of air and Judith had to gasp to re-fill her lungs. Suddenly there was a loud laugh from somewhere beside her. Judith lolled her head to the side to look at the red turtle as he laughed.

She didn't think it was a funny story.

"She's high!" The red one suddenly accused. Shuddering slightly with his laughter.

It took a moment of silence for Judith to take his accusation in before anger exploded through her. His accusation seemed to make sense, that's what was wrong with her, but how could she be high? Unless someone else had drugged her without her knowing.

"I am not" She said softly, fear beginning to burn through her in place of the anger. The only other people who could have made her like this was the creatures in the room with her "I am not! I Am Not! I AM NOT I AM NOT" The words blended as her whispers became screams, until she was just screaming, struggling at the calming hands of Leonardo.

"Dammit Raph!" The purple one had blocked her view of the red turtle and Judith struggled harder, ignoring the pain that rippled through her. His hands joined Leonardo's to keep her still. Faintly, she realised someone was holding her legs down too.

They were with the people that attacked her before. They had to be, that was the only explanation that entered her muddled and hazy mind. Judith went suddenly still, they were going to kill her, they had found her in the sewers and they were going to kill her. Her hands found Leonardo's shoulder and tears began to well in her eyes. She had to convince them not to kill her.

"I didn't see anything! I promise. I won't tell anyone about that guy you shot. I won't tell anyone! I won't, I won't, I won't. I'll go home, I'll leave, I won't tell anyone about you people. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry…please…" Her fingers clawed at Leonardo's shoulders, eyes frantic between the two turtles hovering over her "please don't kill me" The turtles drew away slightly in what seemed to be shock and glanced at each other.

"We won't hurt you" Leonardo said gently, confusion drawing his brows together. Judith let out a breath and relaxed a little, trying hard to believe him, to calm herself even for a minute. "Tell me what happened Judith, and we'll make sure no-one hurts you" her breath caught as the other turtles all came into view, all four of them crowded over her.

Judith explained as best she could, between the dizzy feelings of amusement, fear and fatigue that rushed through her at random intervals without her control. The smooth warm hands of Leonardo and the Purple turtle comforted her, making it easier to explain what had happened.

At certain points, the fear seemed amplified and Judith had to breathe heavily to try and focus. When she had finished she was beginning to notice that certain parts of her were hurting, and her brain was clearing of the strange fog covering her. She wondered faintly where her phone was.

"Its alright Judith" The purple turtle said quietly, his hand cupping her cheek. "You're safe here. We'll make sure you stay safe ok. We're your friends, we won't hurt you" Judith nodded, vaguely wondering how a turtle could talk. It didn't matter, she was safe for now…at least she would pretend she was.

"Who are you?" She asked quietly to the air as fatigue washed over her.

"This is Raphael" The purple one said gently, touching the red turtle on the shoulder "and that is Michelangelo" He pointed at the orange masked turtle who smiled at her.

"Call me Mikey" The orange one said, touching her hand carefully as a form of greeting. Judith nodded.

"Mikey, Rapha…Raphael…Leonardo" She looked at the purple turtle again.

"I'm Donatello" He said softly, his thumb rubbing her cheek. Judith nodded again, leaning in a little to his hand, it felt nice, his hand was warm against her cold skin.

"They're nice names" She murmured, letting the black that had been creeping in on her vision take over and relaxing. She would just pretend she was safe.

* * *

Donny slumped back against the wall as Judith's eyes fluttered and her breathing steadied. A strange tension filled silence burned the room as his brothers absorbed what they had just heard.

"Why was she high?" Raph finally probed, his eyes still locked on Judith's face. Donny groaned and stared at the morphine bottle on the coffee table.

"My fault" He said, raising his hand "I think I probably gave her the same amount of morphine we need. Our metabolisms are different, she's smaller too…we need more to feel it…" He was such an idiot. Mikey came to stand next to him, patting his shoulder.

"No harm bro, and that had to be the best reaction we've ever had from human" A slight chuckle ran through the four turtles. It was true, and distinctly depressing, the very best reaction they had had from a human was from a girl who was high on morphine.

"At least we know she was being honest. We can probably trust her story since she wasn't in control of what she was saying. You did us a favour Don" Leo smiled at his brother comfortingly. The silence returned

"Fucking Purple Dragons…" Raph suddenly hissed, punching a nearby wall with enough force to put a slight crack in the brick. None of his brothers argued with his outburst, not even Leonardo, who was always on about control.

They were all thinking it. How could the Purple dragons have been stupid enough to do something like this? They were street thugs, and as far as the turtles knew, they hadn't killed a person since the Purple Dragons had gone 'legit' after Shredder was defeated. Hun wasn't stupid, if anyone died by a Purple Dragon's hand, the cops would suddenly have a reason to shut down his now thriving empire, and with the turtles on the watch, there would be no possibility of the cops missing the killing.

So why had Hun, the Purple Dragon leader, fired with the intent to kill an innocent girl, in broad daylight. What was he trading that was worth loosing everything he had?

Judith stirred and winced slightly before her breathing evened out again. All four brothers turned to look at her, their concern obvious.

For some reason, it had been ridiculously easy to care about this girl. The way her eyes lit up when she saw them for the first time was something none of them had ever expected or experienced, and while Donny couldn't speak for his brothers, he knew that that single look from this one girl had melted any aversion he had towards her identity or intent. Maybe it was because they had saved her life as well.

None of the turtles had ever really seen a human die. On the battlefield, things moved too quickly for you to asses who was dead and who was only unconscious. They'd never had an innocent young woman sprawled on their table about to die before.

They'd never had to stitch a complete stranger up, clean her blood of their hands, watch as she cried in fear at her memories. It had been ridiculously easy to touch the soft warm skin of her face, to hush her fears and tell her it would be alright. It had been easy for all of them to care about her, because she had a face, a voice, unlike the masked Foot and the horribly pierced and tattooed Dragons.

They had found her, and become responsible for her life. They had saved her and promised her safety…

"She can't go back up top for a while" Leo said pacing the length of the table. He had obviously been thinking along the same lines Donny was. "Whatever Hun was trading, he'd kill to keep anyone from knowing about it. He'll probably hunt her down until she's either dead or he's convinced she won't talk" Raph nodded, having leaned himself against the wall of the lair nearby.

"She'll stay here a while" He declared, eyeing his other brothers for any protests. No one gave any. In fact, Mickey grinned.

"She can stay in my room! I'll get it ready" He said joyously, ignoring the raised eye-ridges that shot up around him and heading for the door.

"Or…" Leo grabbed Mikey before he got to the door "She could stay in my room, it's less like a bomb site, there more space and it's the only room in the lair with a door. I don't mind sleeping in the dojo" Mikey pouted but said nothing in his defense. Donny supposed this was because Mikey didn't want to clean his room.

"Raph?" Leo continued, patting Mikey on the back "Can you please get the room ready? Mikey, help Donny clean up. I'm going to try and contact Master Splinter" Donny winced. He had almost forgotten about Master Splinter. How were they going to explain this?

* * *

End Note: As usual, please excuse any obvious grammatical or spelling errors. While I do edit my work, and I find that the more I read it, the harder it is for me to see the errors.

- Gia


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